I often think about survivor bias. Like, we see a lot of old people. Thus we assume that we'll probably also grow to old age. At least I did. It was only when my wife had cancer that I realized that all the dead people just aren't around anymore to tell us that they died. We only get to see the survivors.
To drive this home, here's something I overheard on IRC: "You always hear about dolphins saving people from drowning, but you never hear about all the people dolphins have dragged out to sea."
@kensanata One reason old people tend to be more conservative than young ones is that poor people tend not to live til they’re old.
@wrenpile Do you have a source for this? It could be other things, too. Maybe change generally benefits the young who have not established themselves. Once you have something, be it a home, a family, a job, anything really, your outlook starts changing.
@kensanata There are lots of sources. Here’s one: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/04/for-life-expectancy-money-matters/
I didn’t say this was the only reason, just *one* reason.